JEREMY LOTT BOOK CLUB: Andrew Sullivan picked Robert Kaplan's new book for the first installment of his book club and gave it a generally favorable review. I did not share that opinion. Though I've enjoyed much of Kaplan's past journalism, I found Warrior Politics to be sloppy, badly thought out and a bit of a rip off (and, since reviewers get copies for free, that is saying something).

As I wrote in this month's Chronicles review, "[Kaplan's book comes to] an anemic 155 pages. In fact ... the table of contents contains executive summaries of each of the chapters, allowing the gist of the book to be absorbed in just under two minutes. My late grandfather, a union man, would have called that not bad work, if you can get it." That said, I end this plug with a request for flagellation. If I ever use the phrase “mandarin class” again, readers are invited to dive bomb me with angry letters.